EP 45: Marketing to Mind States | Will Leach

Marketing to Mind States with Will Leach

In episode 45 of the Lion’s Share Marketing Podcast, we’re joined by Will Leach, the author of Marketing to Mind States and founder of Trigger Point, a leading behavioral research and design consultancy. Tyler and Will discuss the ins and outs of behavioral research and how marketing leaders can use human behavior models to frame their campaigns.

After getting into his background and the inspiration for his book, Will dives into the basics of decision-making and what that means for marketers. He states that people make about 75,000 decisions every day, and most of those decisions are made on an unconscious level. People say that we’re emotional creatures, and behavioral research provides the science to back that up. Understanding how people make decisions is crucial to determining how to frame your marketing strategy, and Will explains that mind states are the key to this understanding.

A mind state, as Will describes, is a state of heightened emotional arousal that makes a person significantly more susceptible to influence. He gives the example of healthy eating, saying that most people say they want to eat healthy, but their food buying decisions do not always reflect that desire. Instead, there are multiple factors that can influence a person’s mind state as they choose which food to buy and eat.

Will goes more into depth with this, laying out his new behavioral model and the four factors that most influence a person’s decisions. Then, he shares his insights on the future of behavioral research in marketing, gives tips to marketing leaders on where to begin, and talks about his writing process. Finally, he leaves listeners with the advice to put more emphasis on triggers, or calls to action, in marketing campaigns. Since people are so emotional, a little can go a long way with simply telling customers to buy something.

Join Tyler, Jen, and Will in this discussion on behavioral research and marketing.